That was the question from a coach who attended my workshop last Friday.”Chris. Forget the marketing funnel, the pie slices and the back-office team – I need to make money NOW – so what do I do?”
Now, of course, there is an element of bed-wetting going on here – the answer may provide a short term solution to a short term problem but eventually you are going to have to do something more permanent about the issue. But a direct question deserves a direct answer, so this is what I said:
1. Make a list of your top 20 professional relationships – people who can really influence and move your business forwards (credit to Dan Sullivan at The Strategic Coach for that one);
2. Arrange to have breakfast, lunch, dinner or just coffee with them all in the next 90 days;
3. Ask them all “what’s the biggest single challenge facing you in your business right now?”
4. Ask them all “what’s the biggest single obstacle that is getting in the way of you addressing that challenge?”
5. Ask them all “how best can I help to remove the obstacle and address the challenge?”
6. Ask them all “if I could do that would you hire me right now?”
7. Ask them all “irrespective of whether you would hire me would you recommend me to at least 3 others to address the same challenges and obstacles?”
And so I challenged my client to make the calls, arrange the meetings and ask the questions.
